, 1887-12-01

lections Shall be made under direction of
the secretary of the interior. Aher years
of waiting, congress has fnlled 10 empower
the depart ilient to make the necessary sur
vrys whereby sotne "i the grants h,,gn. W
adjusted, aud no iume,llate prospect OF
such survey was In sight, but law was
u,ss.u March 3, 1887, whereby the secre-
iury of the interior was "directed to in'me-
diutely adjust each railroad lahu grant
made by congress to add IN tue CONSTRUCT
ions of raj lroads' with an earnest desire W
obey the mandate Uf congress to give 10
corporations their every right uhder tue
laws, and ut the same time follow the ui-
rections given by you to see ample protec,
tiun should be- extended to settlers ana
those see king to make settlement ON puhIlc
lands. Ell, cred upon the most careial con
sideration of the whole subject of the ms
tory and law relating to the land grants
and concluded that if the department. was
clothed with authority to make indemnify
Withdrawals az has been done III SD many
instances. the exercise OF that AUTHORITY
was matter entirely within SOUND dlscre'lHp
and not II matter OF legal M po,
lIgation in any respect. That
same sound discretion which ~
the interest of the companies Justified saiu
Withdrawals now demanded peremltorliy
in public interest II speedy revocation OF
the same. and that the most effective way
oi expcditing AL adjustment OF land Esnnts
and doing exact justice to coie,ldies
guarding aud promoting the ihterGsI OF
settlers also was to- permit the lubfM 10
enter into competition with the COMPANIES
in the SELECTION ui lands heretofore WITH
drawn Tor indemnify purposes. Accord
ingly ON MAY Is lNS7 with your approval,
rules were had npull different companies
for whose benefit Withdrawals had been
made to show Cut>e by u certain day why
said withdrawuis should not be revoked,
Soiue of the Companies ialled toshow cause,
Others filed answers a>sentins To revocation
as they had received Satisfaction at grant,
Others as,entpd on condition that the lands
covered by selections already made be eN.
cppted from the order of revncatiOn and
other companies objected To the order of
revocation as illegal and violation Of
chartered rights. Briefs were lied, oral
arguments accorded to counsel OF such
companies as desired to be head, all Of
which were fully and carefully considered
as was due to the importance OF the ques-
tons and magnitude of interests involved.
On August l3, 1887, my views were fully
expressed In decision rendered in the
case of the Atlantic & Pacific railroad
comuany, which, bv answer and argu-
ment, raised nearly all the objections that
were presented in art, IN y by Il number OF
other company. Two DAYS later the order
" ilhdrawug lands within indemnity limits
aud reserving the same for 'ttlement, was
revoked and the lands restored to tue pub
lie domain and settlements, first, in the
case of two companies which had not an
swered and second, in these which answer
ed and assented; aud third, in the cases
OF companies which set up def, nses coming
within the rulings in the foregoing opinion.
In congressional grants 10 the following
railroad mpanies: the Hastings " Daku'
ia, Northern Pacific, st. Paul Minneapolis
& Manitoba ST. Paul " Sioux City, Sioux
City " ST. Paul. it is provided that npun
filing maps designating the routes OF said
roads and branches, IL shall be the duty #
hr secretary of the interior to Withdraw
from market lands embraced in the provi-
srons of tle act making the grant. In con-
sequence of this prUvlSiun these roads were
omitted from the orders of restoration.
Folio ing this action, instructions were
issued t. the commissioner ol
the general land office to detail all the
available force in his office To work adjust
ing the road grants and proceeding as rap.
idly ~ possible with the same. The
amount OF land restored to the public do
main, through orders revoking indemnity,
Is stated by the commissioner of the general
land office IL be u, 323 600 acres. beg to
refer to what has been said III another part
Of this report in relation To the Imperative
necessity of appropriations for surveys,
without which complete adjustment of
these railroad grants is not practicable at all
early day.